Jan de Bont (born 22 October 1943) is a former Dutch cinematographer, director and film producer. He is widely known for directing the films Speed and Twister. As a director of photography, de Bont has shot numerous blockbusters and genre films, including Cujo, Flesh and Blood, Die Hard, The Hunt for Red October and Basic Instinct.

De Bont was born to a Roman Catholic family in Eindhoven, Netherlands, one of 17 children. His earliest work after studying at the Amsterdam Film Academy was with the Dutch avant garde director Adriaan Ditvoorst. He first came to fame in the Netherlands as the cinematographer for the 1973 film Turkish Delight, directed by Paul Verhoeven, starring Rutger Hauer and Monique van de Ven. Since the early 1980s, he worked frequently in Hollywood, often collaborating with directors including Verhoeven and John McTiernan.

While serving as cinematographer for the 1981 film Roar, de Bont experienced one of many on-set injuries during filming, where a lion lifted his scalp, requiring 220 stitches. After Roar, de Bont shot the 1983 horror film Cujo, the adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. In 1988, he was director of photography on the critically lauded action film Die Hard. The following year, de Bont shot the Ridley Scott-directed action thriller Black Rain.

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Directing

De Bont made his directorial debut with the action thriller Speed in 1994, which was a surprise hit. He followed this up with the even more successful Twister in 1996. His output since has had mixed commercial and critical success. In 1997, he returned to direct the sequel Speed 2: Cruise Control, which was a commercial and critical failure. In 1999, he directed a remake of The Haunting. It was a commercial success, but was heavily panned by critics, receiving five Razzie Award nominations and being widely considered one of the worst remakes in cinema history. His most recent film as director was the 2003 action adventure film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life, based on the video game series of the same name, and starring Angelina Jolie as the eponymous Lara Croft.

Personal life

He was married to Dutch actress Monique van de Ven from 1973 to 1988. Monique starred in the 1973 film Turkish Delight, for which de Bont did the cinematography. De Bont has two children from his second marriage with Trish Reeves, Alexander (who had a part in Speed 2) and Anneke (who had a part in Twister).